3 States Used 23% Of America's Electricity in 2012 — Check This Map

3 States Used 23% Of America's Electricity in 2012 — Check This Map
Image Credit:
Scientific American

Just three states used almost a quarter of America’s electricity in 2012. If you lived in California, Florida, or Texas last year, you were part of the states that consumed 23% of the country’s total electricity, according to a new report by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Energy Information Administration.

Check out the map below, courtesy of Scientific American. The darker a state, the more electricity consumed:

All told, Texas used nearly 10% of America’s electricity all by itself, with California coming in at 7% and Florida at 6%.

What’s interesting is that California actually used less electricity than Texas, while having roughly 12 million more people. But the fact that these three states combined consumed 23% of America’s electricity isn’t actually all that surprising, considering they make up almost 27% of the country’s total population.

Consumption of electricity has been pretty stable for the past decade, as it runs cyclical through the seasons. 2013’s peak consumption is actually slightly down from 2012, but in the grand scheme of things, America’s electricity consumption maintains the status quo:

But there are things on the horizon that could mean a change not necessarily in how much electricity we consume, but rather how that electricity is generated. The United States is set to become the world leader in solar panel installations, passing Germany for the first time in 15 years. At the same time, though, the U.S. will be the world’s top oil producer by 2015. So however the electricity is generated, at least we know it’ll keep on coming.

Ben graduated from SUNY Geneseo with a B.A. in English Literature and a minor in Political Science. He recently traveled through New England looking for pie. His second-favorite pastime is googling pictures of politicians laughing.